Dark Days Tour in St. Louis Review!

Happy Thursday everyone! As many of you will remember, I attended the Dark Days Tour in St. Louis, Missouri a few weeks to meet some amazing YA authors and hear them speak on their works! You guys enjoyed my review of the AViD event earlier this month, so I figured I would continue the tradition. For those of you who may have missed my post about the Dark Days tour, you can find it By Clicking Here! This is just a post to share my amazing experience from that night with all my even more amazing readers!

As you will recall, the featured authors of the Dark Days tour were Danielle Paige, Kelly Armstrong, Kiera Cass, and Kimberly Derting. As you guys have read many, many times before, I am quite possibly Danielle Paige's biggest fan so I was so excited to meet her that words just couldn't describe it. My road trip partner, and fellow book lover (and Danielle Paige fan), Megan and I once again took off from the Queen City of the Ozarks, this time heading to city known as the "Gateway to the West", St. Louis, Missouri! Both Megan and I are originally from hometowns that are relatively close to St. Louis (~2 hours) so we were familiar enough with the city for it not to have been as exciting as Des Moines was for us, but still really awesome!

The Dark Days tour was hosted at the St. Louis Ethical Society, and while we are stills scratching our heads  as to what exactly an Ethical Society is, we found the place with relative ease considering neither of us are city folk! Oh well, here are a random assortment of pictures from our evening rubbing shoulders with the literary elite! :D

Neither Megan nor I could figure out what an Ethical Society was, but the building was pretty cool! We ended up having to go to their website to figure out what they were all about!

From left: Danielle Paige, Kelly Armstrong, Kiera Cass, and Kimberly Derting are asked questions by the event moderator, Allie from Harper-Collins! The authors answered questions about the content of the books, their backgrounds, and what we can expect from the authors in the future!

 

Here I am pictured with Danielle Paige. As you guys have read before, I am the self proclaimed biggest fan of Danielle's first full length novel Dorothy Must Die and have already devoted several blog posts to her and this series. Making the trip to STL to meet this amazing author and woman will forever be a memory I carry with me. I actually got quite a bit of time to talk to Danielle and actually learned a lot about the future of the series, and her work within the Oz community. She is an amazing woman and I am so blessed to have gotten to meet her. I am already looking forward to the next time!

 

Not to be missed, here I am pictured with the absolutely amazing Kimberly Derting. Although I have YET to get a chance to sit down and read her newest novel The Taking, it is at the top of my TBR list for when things slow down for me! Kimberly was amazing and even remembered me from the blog (THIS blog) and even knew the name of it! Woohoo! It really made this guy feel special! Can't wait to read The Taking!

I know many of my readers need no introduction as to who this woman standing beside me is, Mrs. Kiera Cass. Kiera is the author of the HUGE hit The Selection series! Kiera had a huge turnout of fans, including many, many young fans which really made me happy to see so many young people getting excited about reading! 

Last, but certainly not least, here I am pictured with Kelley Armstrong, author of the popular Darkest Powers and Darkness Rising series! I have had these series on my TBR list for some time and plan on tackling them this summer. It was so awesome to get to meet Kelley!

All in all, I had an awesome experience meeting these four incredible authors during their St. Louis stop of the Dark Days Tour. I am so excited to check out the works of these authors and already looking forward to what we can expect from them in the future! It's always a life changing experience for me when I get to meet an author so this was truly a special night for me to get to meet four, including one who is so special to me. An incredible experience all around!

I am so blessed to have gotten to attend this event alongside my best friend, Megan. Megan and I both graduated college this past Friday and will soon be beginning the next chapters of our lives very soon. As exciting as this sounds, it means that we will be separated by many, many more miles than ever before. These past two events have already made us decide that this will become a tradition of ours. We will potentially be traveling to Nashville for events this summer and this morning we decided that SOMEHOW we will be traveling to Philadelphia next February for the first ever Apollycon in celebration of Jennifer Armentrout's (a favorite of ours) new Titan series! 

That's really all I have for you guys right now, I apologize that it has taken me almost a month to get this posted. As I mentioned earlier, I graduate college earlier this month and then took a 10 day vacation to Mexico so I have REALLY been busy this month. Look forward to a WHOLE BUNCH of fun from me this summer though. I have lots planned and a mountain of books to keep me busy. Today is actually my two month blog anniversary so I wanted to make sure I had a fun post for you guys. Thank you to all my amazing readers who have helped me to gain quite the impressive numbers during my first two months. You are all awesome. Feel free to contact me for any suggestions, recommendations, or any book you would like to see my take on!
 

Alright guys, be sure to be on the lookout for more awesome posts soon here at OneGuysGuidetoGoodReads! Comment below and let me know if you were at the Dark Days Tour as well! I'd love to hear from you! Happy Reading!

-Ethan

All Lined Up by Cora Carmack Blog Tour

Hello readers! Long time no read! As my regular readers know, I just returned from an amazing week long cruise to the beautiful Yucatan Peninsula to celebrate my college graduation. As awesome as it was, it means I missed a whole week of blogging. Well, what better way to jump back in that to present to you all the OneGuysGuideToGoodReads Blog Tour stop for the newest novel by the absolutely amazing, fantastic, incredible, astonishing Miss Cora Carmack? Hope you guys are ready for some fun, here we go!

Click the banner to see all stops on the ALU Tour!

As many of you already know, I am a member of Cora Carmack's Rusk University Street Team and have been working alongside Cora and 24 other amazing bloggers (and Kelly... Hey Kelly :D) to promote this amazing first novel in Cora's new Rusk University series. I'm sure if you are reading this you already know a little about All Lined Up, considering this is the thirteenth and final day of the All Lined Up blog tour, but just in case you haven't, here's some info about ALU!

 

Synopsis

New York Times and USA Today bestselling author Cora Carmack follows up her trio of hits—Losing It, Faking It, and Finding It—with this thrilling first novel in an explosive series bursting with the Texas flavor, edge, and steamy romance of Friday Night Lights.

In Texas, two things are cherished above all else—football and gossip. My life has always been ruled by both.

Dallas Cole loathes football. That's what happens when you spend your whole childhood coming in second to a sport. College is her time to step out of the bleachers, and put the playing field (and the players) in her past.

But life doesn't always go as planned. As if going to the same college as her football star ex wasn’t bad enough, her father, a Texas high school coaching phenom, has decided to make the jump to college ball… as the new head coach at Rusk University. Dallas finds herself in the shadows of her father and football all over again.

Carson McClain is determined to go from second-string quarterback to the starting line-up. He needs the scholarship and the future that football provides. But when a beautiful redhead literally falls into his life, his focus is more than tested. It's obliterated.

Dallas doesn't know Carson is on the team. Carson doesn't know that Dallas is his new coach's daughter.

And neither of them know how to walk away from the attraction they feel.

Sounds amazing right? Well it definitely is. You guys can check out a whole bunch more information about ALU from the links on my side bar right over here>>>>>>> 

For any of you guy's who aren't familiar with my friend, and our amazing author, Cora Carmack, here's some information about the amazing Cora! 

Cora Carmack is a twenty-something writer who likes to write about twenty-something characters. She's done a multitude of things in her life-- boring jobs (like working retail), Fun jobs (like working in a theatre), stressful jobs (like teaching), and dream jobs (like writing). She enjoys placing her characters in the most awkward situations possible, and then trying to help them get a boyfriend out of it. Awkward people need love, too. Her first book, LOSING IT, is a New York Times and USA Today bestseller.

Website ** Twitter ** Facebook ** Author Goodreads ** Novel Goodreads

Well, if any of you guys have been keeping up with the amazing work the Street Team has been doing, you would know all about the amazing tradition we created in the form of Rusk University #FootballFriday! Each week we selected one of six main characters from All Lined Up and wrote all about that character, giving some amazing insight to our thoughts on All Lined Up, as well as some absolutely amazing graphics! Here's the link to all six of my #FootballFriday posts, I invite you to check them out and learn more about the cast of All Lined Up before getting started with your own copy! 

 

 Week One: Meet Carson McClain

Week Two: Meet Dallas Cole

Week Three: Meet Stella Santos

Week Four: Meet Silas Moore and Levi Abrams
Week Five: Meet Ryan Blake 
Football Friday Week Six: Meet Coach Cole and the Rusk University Wildcats

In addition to all the ALU info we put into our Football Friday posts, I would just like to add that I liked everything about All Lined Up and, in my opinion, it is definitely Cora's best work to date. This book is so easy to relate to in the sense of the college experience, and above all else: it appeals to guy readers as well as the females. Unlike many other New Adult novels, this book is not fueled by sex/sexual tension. Cora has given us a great novel about the freshman experience of college, colored with football, partying, and a HEALTHY romance thrown in that is sure to impress anyone! The cast of characters is great, and the storyline sets us up for several more Rusk U novels in the future! I don't say this often, but All Lined Up is a very special novel and I invite you all to check it out, I promise you won't be disappointed.

Check out this amazing graphic from one of my amazing fellow Street Team members!

As I noted before, I am a member of Cora's Street Team and ready ALU for the first time close to three months ago. In that time, I have read it another two times. It really is THAT good. Since I have had a little more time to prepare for my blog tour, I would like to make your stop here at OneGuysGuideToGoodReads a little more special by sharing with you guys my Top 12 quotes from Cora Carmack's All Lined Up!

All Lined Up Top 12 Quotes

Hope you enjoyed those quotes, feel free to leave your favorite ALU quotes in the comments below, I would love to hear your thoughts!


Alright readers, what would a post here on OneGuysGuideToGoodReads be without a giveaway? The amazing Cora and her team are giving away 5 copies of ALU and you could win! Fill out the Rafflecopter below, you know the drill!


a Rafflecopter giveaway

Alright guys, that's the end of my Blog Tour stop for Cora Carmack's newest release All Lined Up! I hope you guys enjoyed your stay! As always, I have several thanks to make. First off to Cora: thank you for the amazing opportunity to join your ST, you've introduced me to so many new amazing people including the rest of the Carmcats, the absolutely incredible Kelly, and of course, yourself. Thanks for everything Cora! I'd also like to give a HUGE thanks to KP and her amazing team at InkSlinger for allowing me to be a part of this awesome blog tour! You guys are awesome. Lastly I would love to give a shout out to my amazing team who has helped me to promote this blog by tweeting, facebooking, and doing everything in their power to help me promote ALU these past few months. A very special thanks to Hannah, Jessica, Tommy, Blaire, and Grace: you guys have no idea how much your help has meant to me!

Now that you know all about All Lined Up, what are you waiting for? Head on over and get yourself a copy and get to reading! Remember, there's No Easy Days at Rusk U!

Buy Links:

Amazon

Barnes and Noble

Thank you all for reading. I look forward to more All Lined Up fun very soon. Thanks for joining me on this amazing journey promoting such a great book! Until next time folks, Happy Reading!

 -Ethan
 

Rusk University Spirit Week Scavenger Hunt!

Why hello again readers, seeing much of me this week, you will be. Sorry, I am watching Clone Wars as I type and Yoda is awesome sauce. ANYWAY. If you are reading this, then you are already aware that you are participating in the Rusk University Spirit Week Scavenger Hunt in celebration of Cora Carmack's All Lined Up release week. So, you have already gotten clues one and two and now you just need the third and final clue and a place to submit your entry? Wait, you MISSED the first two clues? Stop what your doing. Stop. Stop. Stop. Here, let me help you out:

Miss clues 1 and 2 for today? Head the links (blogs) for your clues, then come back and enter the giveaway! 

Clue from SmartSavvySteph

Clue from Novel Grounds

Alright, now that we're back on track for the scavenger hunt, I won't keep you waiting, here's your third and final clue for Monday 5/11/2014: 

Alright guys, now that have have all three clues for today (Monday), here's your chance to put it all together and enter the amazing Spirit Week Scavenger Hunt Giveaway! Fill out the Rafflecopter below and good luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Now that you are all entered, be sure to check back tomorrow in our event page by CLICKING HERE to find out where your next set of clues will come from. Thanks for stopping by! Happy Rusk U Spirit Week everyone! Be sure to get your copy of All Lined Up starting tomorrow, May 13! Click any of the pre-order links in my sidebar to learn more, you won't regret it! See you back on the Facebook Group!

-Ethan 

Rusk University Spirit Week

Hey everyone! Just a short post to keep you all informed! This week to celebrate the release of Cora Carmack's All Lined Up, her team is putting on the first ever Rusk University Spirit Week! A week full of fun events and themed days to get every fan out there PUMPED about All Lined Up! Here's the official teaser graphic with all the days listed!

Now for those of you who may not understand what we have going on here, the spirit week will take place in the form of a Facebook group that can be found By Clicking Here. Head over to the page, register as attending and get ready! Each day we have been divided into teams to bring you fun events themed around the release of All Lined Up! It's going to be a great time. In addition to fun events, we have LOTS of exciting things I CAN'T tell you about yet! BUT I can tell you to expect some guest appearances from some AMAZING authors, including our own, the absolutely amazing Cora Carmack, throughout the week to participate! It is sure to be a great time. Prizes will be given out SEVERAL times a day, from swag packs, to signed copies, to gift cards! Please bring a friend and come check it out! I am actually on the roster for "Round 'Em Up Rusk Day (Cowboy Day)" tomorrow! Come support our team as we show you guys how they party with Texas-style fun: Cowboys, Old West, and a whole bunch of fun! Grab your 10 gallon hats, a slice of pecan pie, and meet us at the Alamo--- errr uh...--- the Facebook group. 

Here are two more graphics designed by the amazing Amber at GrownUpFangirl to inform you guys of everything I may have forgotten!

Alright guys, as my amazing readers you have followed us this far into the All Lined Up journey, don't miss out on the fun stuff now! I will see you all tomorrow for the first day of Rusk U Spirit Week! Also a huge Happy Mother's Day shout out to all my readers and fans who happen to be a mother today! Happy Reading!

-Ethan

Football Friday Week Six: Meet Coach Cole and the Rusk University Wildcats + GIVEAWAY

Hello readers and a very Happy Friday! Congratulations again on making it through yet another week. I know many of you, like myself, will be taking finals or finishing up school here in the next few days so this is a very special Friday for us all, with many reasons to celebrate! Before you start the partying, I have another VERY special edition of OneGuysGuideToGoodReads to share with ya'll. I know you guys are just as excited as I am so here we go: it's Football Friday!! As you guys have undoubtedly heard, I am an avid fan of Cora Carmack and a member of her Street Team, promoting her newest Rusk University series, starting with All Lined Up, coming at ya on May 13! Just in case you have been living under a rock, I have all the information about All Lined Up available on the sidebar of my blog! Look over here>>>>>

In case you guys aren't good with math, that's only 5 days away! Actually, not even that. By the time you guys get to read this, it'll only be three days! Cora and our amazing crew have decided to reward you, the readers, with a special treat each Friday. I welcome you to our sixth and final Football Friday! Each Friday until release day I, along with my fellow Street Teamers and Cora herself, will be giving you guys an insight to six of the books main characters!  Check out my previous Football Friday posts at any of the links below! Each one is about a different character in Cora's All Lined Up!

Week One: Meet Carson McClain

Week Two: Meet Dallas Cole

Week Three: Meet Stella Santos

Week Four: Meet Silas Moore and Levi Abrams
Week Five: Meet Ryan Blake

Alright everyone, hope you're ready, because here is our sixth and final edition of Rusk University Football Friday!

 

This week I am honored to present to you the most exciting edition of Football Friday! The reason for the entire celebration: Coach Cole and the members of the Ruck University Wildcats!

Coach Cole
Just in case the surname and the title aren't enough explanation for Coach Cole for ya, let me fill you in. Coach Cole is the father of our main character, Dallas Cole (we met her in week two). It just so happens that Coach Cole is also, you guessed it, the new coach of the Rusk University Wildcats football program. Coach Cole is a winner through and through. His specialty is to take losing football programs and turn them around into winning ones. He is pretty doggone good at his job, as you guys will see in All Lined Up. Cora has talked at great length about how special this book is to her. Cora also grew up in Texas and was the father of a football coach! Who better to write a story like this than someone who has lived through the experience? Coach Cole is one of my favorite characters in the book. He is a pretty "no nonsense" kind of guy but he has a great storyline. He can be seen as a tough guy to get along with, particularly where Dallas is involved, but from the very beginning we are introduced to a Coach Cole that is a true Southern gentleman: caring for his daughter, God-fearing christian (you can ALWAYS find Coach Cole in church on a Sunday morning. Dallas will probably be there too, but she'll be less than enthusiastic about it), and a great football coach and role model for his players. I'm not sure I have ever met a coach of any sport that is as cool as Cora has made Coach Cole, but I think he'd be an awesome guy to play under. Coach Cole is also great about recognizing talent, especially in a second string Carson McClain (our male main character you met in week one). You guys will quickly learn that Coach Cole is probably best remembered for his mantra, and our unofficial tagline for the Rusk University Wildcats: No Easy Days!

Check out this awesome sauce Coach Cole Graphic by Street Team member Krista!

The Rusk University Wildcats
I don't have to explain to you guys that a Football team is made up of many, many players and while we don't get to meet ALL of them in All Lined Up, we do get to meet several. Ones we have already met include Carson, Silas, Levi, and Ryan (as the Team Manager), however there are multiple other players who, while they do not play a major role in our story, play the ever important role as members of the Rusk University Wildcats Football team! I am sure as the series progresses we will meet more and more of these guys (and maybe a few cheerleaders as well... Cora?) [I can always hope, right]! For now, how about we check out these amazing graphics that were created by some of the Street Team members! 

 BLEED RUSK RED

This is an amazing graphic!

And last but not least, I present to you guys my FAVORITE graphic that has been made thus far promoting All Lined Up! It comes to us via Kim at KimberlyFayeReads! She has made a plethora of amazing graphics for our Football Fridays and I just had to give her a shout out! Here's her best work yet, in my opinion: 

 

Alright guys, that's all I have for you on the topic of Coach Cole and the Rusk University Wildcats, but wait, THERE'S MORE!! Several of the other amazing Street Team members that I have the great fortune of working with are giving you THEIR take on Coach and the team! Wanna learn more? Check out any of their amazing blogs below!

• Amber at Grown Up Fangirl: http://www.grownupfangirl.com/
• Kaitlin at Between Order and Randomness: https://www.kaitlanolivia.blogspot.com/
• Momo at Books Over Boys: http://booksoverboys.blogspot.com/
• Yvette at Nose Stuck in a Book: http://ycervera.blogspot.com/
• Kim at Kimberly Faye Reads: http://www.kimberlyfayereads.com/ 
• Stephanie at Smart and Savvy with Stephanie: http://smartsavvysteph.blogspot.com/
• Krista at Krista's Dust Jacket: http://kristasdustjacket.blogspot.com/
• Andy at Owl Always Be Reading: http://www.owlalwaysbereading.com/
• And last but not least, our fearless leader, the amazing Cora Carmack has a great post for ya: http://coracarmack.blogspot.com/

Before you leave, how about another awesome giveaway from Cora? Register here to win the LAST signed ARC of All Lined Up! 

a Rafflecopter giveaway  


Well guys, this brings us to the end of our All Lined Up promotional Football Fridays. Football Fridays have been the coolest thing for me to do. I am hoping to get the chance to participate in the next Street Team so there may be more Football Fridays to come. Don't get upset though, I am on the official blog tour for All Lined Up so you guys can look forward to a FULL exciting post full of graphics, videos, etc, I will be pulling out ALL THE STOPS for that one on May 27th. You guys will actually be seeing that one while I am out of the country (going to Mexico for my senior trip, only one week until I am a college graduate! Ahh!), but I will have a co-blogger make sure everything is up and running for you guys. In the coming weeks be on the look out for some info on upcoming author events and a few more book reviews I am working on! Don't be a stranger guys, comment below and say hey! I love to hear from my readers! Happy Reading!

-Ethan

Two by Karl Alexander Release Day

Happy Monday Readers! Ethan here with another Monday edition of OneGuysGuidetoGoodReads! What's different about the Monday edition you ask? Well... Nothing, but I thought it had a nice ring to it. ANYWAY... Not the point. I have another new book recommendation/review for you guys and actually now that I go through my archives, this is kind of a special post. This makes the first book by a male author that I have reviewed/promoted. Kind of funny considering I'm going for the guy angle on this book blog huh? Oh well. Here I have a book written by an author who has been in the business for  quite a while, Mr. Karl Alexander and his newest novel, the first in a new series: Two: Book One of the Sometimes Time Traveling Twins. I have never read any works of Alexander prior to Two, but from other reviews I can tell that he is a pretty awesome author. You may recognize Alexander as the author to the 1979 classic Time After Time, which was made the hit 1979 film by the same name. I HAVE seen this movie, and it's awesome. I should probably read the book though. Clearly Mr. Alexander is a fan of H.G. Wells because both Time After Time and Two feature him as a main/supporting character. Which is a-okay in my book, HG Wells is kick-ass! Oh well, before I get down to that, here's some info about Two!


Emerson and Parker Leigh, wonder girl twins, are battling with reigning prep school queen, Portia Flowers, over the right to be themselves and Parker’s “thing” for Randall Hamner—by day, a tennis star, by night, a car thief.

Enter, Tim Raines, a handsome young writer with a Harley who interviews the twins for his first novel. Sparks fly between Tim and Emerson, but Portia hooks up with Randall, momentarily wrecking Parker’s life, but Portia’s video gets her tossed out of school.

In Tim’s book, the twins time-travel to Edwardian England and befriend H.G. Wells, but Tim does them no favors by bringing Portia and Randall along as adversaries. Alas, the time machine stops working, and at a young Fabians weekend in the country, Emerson is murdered.

Back in present-day Calabasas, Portia seeks revenge. She frames the twins and Tim for kidnapping. With high-powered attorneys as parents, Emerson and Parker stay out of jail, but not Tim.

So, the book remains unfinished. As Emerson tries to solve the kidnapping, Parker tries to finish writing the book, solve her sister’s murder in the past—with a little help from Sir Arthur Conan Doyle—and bring them both back home.



Alright, before we get down to brass tax with my take on Two, here's a little bit about the author.

Karl Alexander, a fifth-generation Angeleno, is the author of seven novels, including Papa and Fidel, a novel of Hemingway, Castro and Cuba. His bestselling novel "Time After Time" was made into a hit film starring Malcolm McDowell and Mary Steenburgen, for which he was dubbed a Knight of Mark Twain for his contribution to American Literature. His second novel, “Missing Pieces,” was made into a CBS World Premiere movie starring Elizabeth Montgomery. He also produced and co-wrote the horror film, "Rattlers."

He has an MFA from the Iowa Writers’ Workshop and served as a Marine Corps officer in the Vietnam War. He has been a college professor, has also worked as a screenwriter and lighting director in Hollywood.

His fifth novel, "Jaclyn the Ripper," is the sequel to "Time After Time," and his sixth was the time-travel thriller romance, "Time-Crossed Lovers," an Award Winning Finalist in the 'Fiction: Science Fiction' category of the 2013 International Book Awards


Alright. I'm going to be perfectly and completely honest with you all. As an avid reader, I REALLY wanted to like this book. From seeing some of Alexander's other books and reviews, I figured this would be an awesome read. I have had my copy of Two for almost a month now and am barely half way through it. Please don't let anything I say deter you from checking it out for yourself, but I am here to say it has not been easy for me to get into. It starts off very slow and the characters are not very likable. Like I said, maybe once I get a chance to finish it, I can change my thoughts on it, but overall thus far, it's not been my favorite book. I feel like it is very immature. Almost written for high school-ers who think they know everything about life. It is just really hard for me to relate to the "problems" these twins are having. They are super snobby and really just overall bad kids. I don't like people like that in real life, so I really do not want to read about them. I have read several other reviews who say that the characters actually redeem themselves a little towards the end, but I haven't seen it yet. One thing that I can say I liked about the book was the cover! Seriously, one of the coolest covers I have seen in a while. I know they say "don't judge a book by its' cover", but we all do, don't lie. This cover was awesome, I just wish I could get into the book as well too. Oh well! Like I said, please check it out for yourself before you go by anything I have said.

I am posting this tonight because tomorrow, May 6th is release day for Two! While this wasn't my favorite book, I still wish Alexander and the publisher a successful release day! It says this is the first book in a series so hopefully it will pick up with time and be way better than I thought! Click the link below to get your copy of Two by Karl Alexander!

Well guys, that's all I have for you tonight. I wish Two a VERY happy release day tomorrow and hope you guys will check it out! After I get a chance to actually finish the whole book my thoughts may change about it, but at this point I am not so sure. Check it out for yourselves and let me know what you think down in the comments! Thanks and happy Monday everyone! Until next time, Happy Reading!

-Ethan

Dark Days Tour in St. Louis, Missouri this Friday!

Happy Sunday readers! Hope you are all having a great weekend! After my AMAZING experience at AViD in Des Moines last Sunday, I have caught the ailment I am henceforth referring to as "The Book Event Bug"! I know many of my readers have already contracted this illness, but I have been a little late to the party. You guys can check out my review of my time in Des Moines meeting the amazing Cora Carmack and Jennifer L. Armentrout by clicking here! After getting back home and doing some research, I came across an author event that was too big to pass up. Hope you guys are ready, this is going to be a BIG one!

Introducing the Dark Days Tour featuring some of the BIGGEST names in Young Adult literature today (including a new favorite of mine). 

 
Well, in case you aren't like me and the sight of these four women gives you chills, allow me to introduce you to the ladies of the Dark Days Tour: Kimberly Derting, Danielle Paige, Kelley Armstrong, and Kiera Cass! Here's the promo from the event sponsor:


Join four top Young Adult authors for a Q&A panel and booksigning! Kimberly Derting, author of The Body Finder series, discusses the first novel in her new series, The Taking. Danielle Paige discusses her debut novel, Dorothy Must Die, set in a Tarantino-esque Oz. Kelley Armstrong, #1 New York Times bestselling author of the Darkest Powers series, discusses her new novel, Sea of Shadows. And #1 New York Times bestselling author Kiera Cass discusses The One, the final book in her Selection series.

The event is being held this coming Friday evening at 7PM at the St. Louis Ethical Society in St. Louis, MO. Find out more about the Ethical Society including directions and more information about the facilities by visiting http://www.ethicalstl.org/!  Now let me tell you a little bit about the four amazing authors you can meet! Oh and did I mention this was  FREE event? Well, it is!



Kimberly Derting

Kimberly is the author of the BODY FINDER series (HarperCollins), THE PLEDGE trilogy (Simon & Schuster), and THE TAKING trilogy (coming April 29th from HarperTeen). She lives in the Pacific Northwest, the ideal place to write anything dark or creepy...a gloomy day can set the perfect mood. She lives with her husband and their three beautiful (and often mouthy) children who provide an endless source of inspiration. 








Danielle Paige 

Danielle Paige is a graduate of Columbia University and currently lives in New York City. Before turning to young adult literature, she worked in the television industry, where she received a Writers Guild of America Award and was nominated for several Daytime Emmys. Dorothy Must Die is her first novel.  

Side note, Danielle Paige is one of my newest favorite authors. I have already reviewed two of her works and have communicated with her via Twitter and email. She is an AMAZING author who I am VERY excited about meeting. She's definitely up and coming in a HUGE way. Check out my review of Dorothy Must Die by clicking here!




Kelley Armstrong

Kelley Armstrong has been telling stories since before she could write. Her earliest written efforts were disastrous. If asked for a story about girls and dolls, hers would invariably feature undead girls and evil dolls, much to her teachers' dismay. All efforts to make her produce "normal" stories failed.

Today, she continues to spin tales of ghosts and demons and werewolves, while safely locked away in her basement writing dungeon. She's the author of the NYT-bestselling "Women of the Otherworld" paranormal suspense series and "Darkest Powers" young adult urban fantasy trilogy, as well as the Nadia Stafford crime series. Armstrong lives in southwestern Ontario with her husband, kids and far too many pets. 



Kiera Cass

Kiera Cass is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Selection series, as well as the self-published fantasy novel The Siren. She is a graduate of Radford University and currently lives in Blacksburg, Virginia, with her family. Kiera has kissed approximately fourteen boys in her life. None of them were princes. 

Can I just add that Kiera has a BUNCH of different hilarious bios online. Seriously, I just laughed so hard. This woman is awesome. Kiera is a well known name in the YA game right now and is widely known for her Selection series (Book 3 comes out this week)!




Find out more about the event and all the authors from the events official sponsor, Left Bank Books, at http://www.left-bank.com/event/dark-days-tour-kimberly-derting-danielle-paige-kelley-armstrong-keira-cass.

Ethical Society of St. Louis

Where: Ethical Society of St. Louis (pictured above)

(Click here for venue information, location, contact info, parking, etc)

Date: May 9, 2014 (this coming Friday)

Time: 7:00PM

 

As previously stated, this is an awesome opportunity to meet four of the leading authors in the business right now! It's guaranteed to be a FREE fun time for all! I will be there, along with a few members of my support staff (including my copilot Megan, whom you guys met last week). To say that I am excited to a huge understatement. Friday is actually my "dead day" for classes and signals not only the end of the semester for me, but the end of my Undergraduate career! I graduate the following week, so attending this event will be a much needed break and reward! Please comment below and let me know if any of you guys will be in attendance, I would love to meet you guys! If you can't find me, look for Danielle, I'll be the one freaking out that I'm in the same room as her (yeah, I'm THAT guy). Oh well. Well, I hope you all have a great week and be sure to check back in soon, I have some awesome giveaways going on right now and some new one this week! Be on the look out and be sure to come back to visit us here at OneGuysGuidetoGoodReads!

-Ethan

Authors Visiting in Des Moines Review!

As my readers will remember, this past weekend I was lucky enough to have the opportunity to travel up to Des Moines, Iowa to attend the New Adult panel of this years Authors Visiting in Des Moines event. I know this isn't a book review or anything so I will keep it short and sweet. I just wanted to share about my experiences and show you guys a few pics!

Last week I posted a huge exciting preview to the AViD event, you can see that post By Clicking Here! Three authors were to grace the stage in Des Moines: Jennifer Armentrout, Jay Crownover, and Cora Carmack. Unfortunately due to horrible weather conditions, Jay was unable to attend, but Cora and Jennifer made sure the crowd was still satisfied. As I stated before, the weather was HORRIBLE this past weekend and sadly several people tragically lost their lives in the storms that passed through the Midwest and the South. We traveled 6 hours north to Des Moines from Springfield, Missouri for the event and were very fortunate to not get trapped in any of the horrible weather (although driving home was a mess). Anyways... Here are some pictures of our experience at AViD!

Jennifer L. Armentrout (Left) and Cora Carmack (center) are interviewed by the moderators during the New Adult panel at AViD. They answered a variety of questions pertaining to their histories, writing experiences, and what we can expect in the near future from both of them!

Megan (one of my best friends), Jennifer Armentrout, and I posing for a picture after the panel. Meeting Jennifer was an amazing experience, she is such an amazing author and woman. She definitely gained two HUGE fans here! I am currently reading Jennifer's Lux series and HIGHLY recommend it to anyone! Per Cora's recommendation, I will be reading her Covenant series very soon!

And of course, the moment we have all been waiting for. When I FINALLY got to meet the AMAZING Cora Carmack. This was our very first time meeting. As a huge fan of Cora's and a member of her Street Team, it was a great honor to meet Cora in person after having worked closely with her over the past couple of months. She has become a great friend and this experience will always stay special to me!

After a busy day of rubbing shoulders with the literary elite, Megan and I were just going to turn around and head straight back to Springfield. After talking it over, we realized we would probably never be in Des Moines again, so we decided to take a little time to do some sight seeing while we were downtown. Megan and I are both history majors who love anything old. Well, it just so happened we were downtown and only minutes away from what was quite possibly THE most beautiful building I have ever seen: the Iowa State Capital. We spent over an hour walking the grounds and snapping pictures. It was definitely an amazing experience that neither of us will soon forget.









Overall, this trip was probably one of the best experiences I have ever had. As you guys well know, I am a HUGE fan of anything that has to do with literature. I would have never thought in a million years that I would be traveling to meet New York Times Bestselling Authors Cora Carmack and Jennifer Armentrout to hang out in Iowa for the day. We not only got to hang out with them at AViD. We also got to spend a little time with them before and after the event. For a small town guy from nowhere, this was a really big deal. This blogging world has really given me some amazing experiences thus far. I am very excited to see where it takes me next. A huge shout out and thanks to Cora and Jennifer for making Megan and I feel so welcome in your company, we are both very blessed and had a great time! You guys made us feel like old friends! I cannot wait to see you both again! 

Also, a special message to Jay (if you are reading this), we were so bummed that you didn't get to make it. I can only imagine how frustrating it was to be stuck with the weather acting the way it did. I cannot wait to meet you in Nashville next month, don't worry, I'm a hugger as well! See you soon!

Oh yeah, and one more shout out to Megan. Thanks so much for coming with me and dealing with the major freakout I had since I was so excited! You're awesome, I am so glad we got to experience this together, I don't know what I'd do without you. Also, sorry we had to eat McDonald's on the way home. We were in Des Moines, we should have gone somewhere fun... Oh well :D


One more thing I almost forgot! I forgot to mention that I got to met two of the amazing girls behind my "sister blog" GrownUpFangirl at AViD as well! Here I am pictured with Carmen and Christina (Amber, be jealous)! Amber from GrownUpFangirl is one of my amazing blog mentors who has taken me under her wing and showed me the ropes, I owe a lot to her and these ladies for being so awesome! It was a great honor to meet them as well! Check out their amazing book blog at http://www.grownupfangirl.com/!

Alright guys, be sure to be on the lookout for more awesome posts soon here at OneGuysGuidetoGoodReads! Comment below and let me know if you were at AViD as well! I'd love to hear from you! Happy Reading!

-Ethan

Football Friday Week Five: Meet Ryan Blake + GIVEAWAY!

HAPPY FRIDAY EVERYONE! Congratulations again on making it through yet another week. I know you are all excited to see another one, I just can't believe it's here so fast! Before you start the weekend off right, I have another special edition of OneGuysGuideToGoodReads to share with ya'll. I know you guys are just as excited as I am so here we go: it's Football Friday!! As you guys have undoubtedly heard, I am an avid fan of Cora Carmack and a member of her Street Team, promoting her newest Rusk University series, starting with All Lined Up, coming at ya on May 13! Just in case you have been living under a rock, I have all the information about All Lined Up available on the sidebar of my blog! Look over here>>>>>

In case you guys aren't good with math, that's only 2 weeks away! Not even that, just 11 days! Cora and our amazing crew have decided to reward you, the readers, with a special treat each Friday. I welcome you to our fifth Football Friday! Each Friday until release day I, along with my fellow Street Teamers and Cora herself, will be giving you guys an insight to six of the books main characters!  Check out my previous Football Friday posts at any of the links below! Each one is about a different character in Cora's All Lined Up!

Week One: Meet Carson McClain

Week Two: Meet Dallas Cole

Week Three: Meet Stella Santos

Week Four: Meet Silas Moore and Levi Abrams

Alright everyone, hope you're ready, because here is week five of Rusk University Football Friday!

This week I am very proud to present to you one of the very important member of the supporting cast of All Lined Up: Ryan Blake, team manager of the Rusk University Wildcats!

 

Ryan Blake

Ryan is a little difficult to write about, I am not going to lie to you guys. While he plays a huge part in our story, his character is well, you are just going to have to read and figure it out for yourself! Ryan starts out as one of those characters you are just not sure about, but by the end he becomes "one of the gang". Ryan's primary job in All Lined Up is as the team manager for the Rusk University Wildcats where he works closely with our quarterback, Carson McClain. Ryan become the closest thing Carson has to a best friend at Rusk and their friendship is actually pretty cool. Ryan genuinely cares about the players on the team and works hard to make sure they do their best both on, and off, the field.   Next week, our last Football Friday (GASP) will introduce you all to the rest of the Wildcats as well as Coach Cole. After you meet the team, you will begin to understand why Ryan is a special character. I don't know if it's too spoliery to say, but I am gunning for a Ryan-Stella story, I think that'd be kick ass. I'll have to run that one by Cora! :) Check out these awesome graphic made by Amber, Yvette, and Kim from the Street Team! They really went above and beyond this week for us! 

Three guesses as to who this quote comes from? Starts with a Stella and ends with a Santos! Stella is hilarious!

  
Alright guys, that's all I have for you on the topic of our team manager, Mr. Ryan Blake, but wait, THERE'S MORE!! Several of the other amazing Street Team members that I have the great fortune of working with are giving you THEIR take on Ryan! Wanna learn more? Check out any of their blogs below!

• Amber at Grown Up Fangirl: http://www.grownupfangirl.com/
• Kaitlin at Between Order and Randomness: https://www.kaitlanolivia.blogspot.com/
• Momo at Books Over Boys: http://booksoverboys.blogspot.com/
• Yvette at Nose Stuck in a Book: http://ycervera.blogspot.com/
• Kim at Kimberly Faye Reads: http://www.kimberlyfayereads.com/ 
• Stephanie at Smart and Savvy with Stephanie: http://smartsavvysteph.blogspot.com/
• Krista at Krista's Dust Jacket: http://kristasdustjacket.blogspot.com/
• Andy at Owl Always Be Reading: http://www.owlalwaysbereading.com/
• And last but not least, our fearless leader, the amazing Cora Carmack has a great post for ya: http://coracarmack.blogspot.com/

Before you leave, how about another awesome giveaway from Cora? Up for grabs this week are a SIGNED advanced copy of All Lined Up! Can't say I wouldn't mind that prize myself!



a Rafflecopter giveaway


Well guys, this brings us to the end of yet another exciting Football Friday. I am a little sad to say that we will only have one more. Football Fridays have been the coolest thing to do. I am hoping to get the chance to participate in the next Street Team so there may be more Football Fridays to come. Don't get upset though, I am on the official blog tour for All Lined Up so you guys can look forward to a FULL exciting post full of graphics, videos, etc, I will be pulling out ALL THE STOPS for that one on May 27th. You guys will actually be seeing that one while I am out of the country (going to Mexico for my senior trip, only two weeks until I am a college graduate! Ahh!), but I will have a co-blogger make sure everything is up and running for you guys. In the coming weeks be on the look out for some info on upcoming author events and a few more book reviews I am working on! Don't be a stranger guys, comment below and say hey! I'd love to hear from my readers! Happy Reading!

 
-Ethan